Idlewild: Events revive weekends at 'Black Eden'

Jan. 14, 2010

Staying in the area: The old Casablanca Hotel in Idlewild sits nestled among the trees. Area visitors will find accommodation in motels and homes. Studio apartments also are available. / LSJ file photo

Written by

Mike Hughes

Lansing State Journal

Getting there

* Just drive the 140 miles for a visit. Go north on U.S. 127 to Clare, then west on U.S. 10. Nearby, visit Baldwin and the sprawling Manistee National Forest.

* Catch next weekend's Idlewild Music Fest. (Bring your own lawn chair.) It's 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, with tickets $10 in advance - (231) 745-7712 - $15 at the gate. There are three bands Friday and five Saturday, including two Saturday from Lansing, Root Doctor and Organissimo.

* Stay the night. The Morton Motel has 17 units, $42 a night, or $52 with a kitchenette; (800) 745-2611. The Holiday House is a two-story, five-bedroom home at $200 a night, with one story sometimes available for $100; (231) 843-9566. The Lake Idlewild Resort has two studio apartments, each $45 a night or $200 a week; two one-bedrooms, $55 or $250; a two-bedroom cottage, $75 or $350; and a two-bedroom master, $500 weekly only; call (313) 862-3150 weekdays or (231) 745-7482 weekends.

* Look for real estate; it's not pricey. The 2000 census showed Lake County with a median price of $61,300 for owner-occupied homes, compared with $115,6000 statewide.

One listing was $130,000 for a home with 75 feet of Idlewild Lake frontage, described as "a very large older home with lots of light, knotty pine ... Appliances are included. ... Home does need some work." Elsewhere in Lake County, some wooded cabins and mini-homes are available from $19,900 to $35,000.

* Or wait for the "Idlewild" movie, Aug. 25, set in Southern speak-easies. The two Outkast guys star and provide much of the music. In support are Terrence Howard, Ving Rhames, Cicely Tyson, Ben Vereen and Macy Gray.

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Orginally published July 9, 2006

Life in Idlewild moves at a peaceful rhythm these days.

The crowded dance halls are gone. The rural beauty remains.

This is a retirement place for some people, a vacation spot for others. It's not the high-energy "Black Eden" of old.

Still, there are signs of fresh exuberance. Flash back to three June weekends:

* One Saturday, the Idlewild Cultural and Historic Center was packed with 105 people. The musical "Ain't Misbehavin' " was zestfully performed by an Eastern Michigan University troupe.

"I thought it was an excellent show," said Jeanne Anderson, who had traveled with Lansing neighbors to see their son (Jus Buckingham, an EMU actor) perform.

* A week later, all 17 rooms at the Morton Motel were rented to one group: all Detroit autoworkers, plus spouses.

"It's nice and quiet here," said Marvin Owens, who organized the annual trip. "There's a lot of water and trees; you can do anything."

Inside the motel's community room, women were talking and laughing. Outside, as the barbecue heated, men talked, laughed and played bid whist, an old-time card game. Life was gentle and breezy.

* A week after that, Idlewild tackled one of its biggest projects - a lakefront wedding, bringing in more than 100 guests.

It all sprang from the bride's research, said Gloria Fikes, who was creating African-style decorations. "She was angry. She was right there in Kalamazoo and said, 'Why had I never heard of Idlewild?' "

A grand past

Many people haven't heard of Idlewild and its glory days.

The idea started with white developers, eyeing a market for black vacationers. In 1912, they bought almost 2,700 acres of overcut timberland, nestled between two lakes. They called it Idlewild: a place to be idle in the wild. A vacant lot was $35, paid for at $1 a week.

Soon, blacks were taking over

A prime mover was Dr. Daniel Williams of Chicago, the first person to perform open-heart surgery. He bought a large chunk of land and sold to other prominent blacks.

That could have remained the Idlewild image - peaceful, rural beauty. As a girl, Fikes recalls gathering herbs at 4 a.m.; Florence Harris recalls quiet walks. "At night, it was very dark. My sister and I saw a bear once."

Idlewild, however, also was getting some bright lights.

The party starts

At first, Idlewild was a place for guest speakers and teas and fashion shows. Then came action. There was a riding stable and a skating rink. There were two big dance halls (the Flamingo and the Paradise), one on each lake.

On his first visit to Idlewild in 1954, Joe Lindsey went to both dance halls and an after-hours place.

"I didn't get to bed until Sunday morning," he said.

There were big stars at Idlewild in the 1940s and '50s, including Della Reese, Jackie Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, George Kirby and the Four Tops. And there were glittery dancers; off-season, they toured nationally as the Idlewild Revue.

Things slowed in the mid-60s, but Idlewild was still fun.

"There was a roller rink and maybe one or two live juke-joint places," Freddie Cunningham of Lansing recalled. "That was all you needed."

It was a good-natured place. Doris Strouse, 73, recalls being one of only three whites in the school, but "that was never an issue."

Then the decline

When Cunningham got back from the Army, Idlewild had changed. By the late 1960s, places were closing and people were leaving.

"There was a long stretch when Idlewild was pretty much dead," he said.

That's an understatement, Charles Scott said at his family's store. "This and the post office were the only places open."

The short explanation is that integration killed Idlewild.

But the Idlewild experience also had been basic: There were tiny rooms, water pumps, outhouses or shared toilets. That couldn't compete with a Disneyland world.

Besides, the economy slumped in that part of Michigan. Census figures illustrate the Lake County economy: In 2000, only 7.8 percent of its adults were college grads, compared with 21.8 percent statewide. In 2003, its median household income was $27,450, compared with $46,300 statewide.

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And that was for the whole county.

Yates Township, including Idlewild, is the poorest area. The Yates schools merged with Baldwin and closed. A few landmarks - Casa Blanca Hotel, Flamingo Club, Wilson Groceries - are in semi-ruins; many others were razed.

Comeback on its way

In the early 1990s, a fresh burst of entrepreneurs arrived.

John Meeks, from Detroit, remodeled and expanded the Morton Motel. Bill McClure, from Indianapolis, did the same for the Rosana Tavern, now the Red Rooster Lounge.

Housing projects were built. The original township hall was remodeled as the Cultural and Historical Center; that was the site of "Ain't Misbehavin,' " a big step.

Wallace Bridges was an EMU theater professor when he heard of Idlewild. He and his wife visited the Lake Idlewild Resort and savored the ambience. "If you're out on the patio, you're going to talk to other people," he said.

He dreamed of bringing theater there and made a presentation to the Idlewild Merry Makers.

"I kind of went overboard, with my PowerPoints and graphics," Bridges said. "They just said, 'Let's do it.' "

A drama drew sparse crowds, but "Ain't Misbehavin,' " drew close to 300 people over the weekend.

"The next day, someone already asked me when I was going to do it again," Bridges said.

Next year, he hopes. Maybe some year will have two shows. Maybe some time, he'll retire to Idlewild and be the theater guy.

Maybe more will happen. Built by dreamers, sleepy Idlewild is pushing to re-find its Paradise lost.